Pipe fitting



PIPE FITTING FiledMay 15, 1939 afnam/ )6u/7gg l NVENTO i A 12v/MLM n ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 27, 1942 OFFICE 2,271,282 PIPE FITTING Bernard A. Young, Oakland, Calif.` `Application May 15,1939, serial No. 273,689

1 Claim.

This invention relates to pipe fittings, and particularly to a fitting which may be placed in a piping system and is adapted to receive a socalled spectacle flange or blind, one end of which is provided with an aperture to permit fluid flow L through said piping system, the other end of said ange being solid so that fluid ow is positively prevented in said system.

Heretofore, spectacle flanges or blinds have been clamped between the nished and gasketed faces of ordinary bolted companion flanges in a piping system, so that, in order to interchange ends to permit flow or to prevent ilow in the system, all the bolts holding together those companion flanges had to be loosened so that the latter could be spread apart, and in addition, at least part of the bolts entirely removed. This procedure was necessarily time-consuming and awkward, and, where positive shut-off was required, as in oil piping systems for loading and unloading tank ships, and in refineries, tank farms and the like, resulted in loss of Valuable time and required a number of men whose sole duties were to unbolt the companion ilanges and reverse the position of the blinds between them.

This invention comprehends broadly the utilization of a threaded sleeve which is adapted to be In the drawing, f Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a pair of flanged pipe nipples connected by means of a right and left hand threaded sleeve with a rotatably mounted on the adjoining ends of` two axially aligned pipe nipples or the like and so related to the said nipples that relative movement of the sleeve in one direction will draw together the ends of said nipples to make a fluidtight joint with a disc or ring therebetween, and movement in the opposite direction will spread apart the said ends to release the disc, ring, or gasket to permit removal thereof. Normally, the

sleeve will be provided with an opening transverse to its longitudinal axis and opposite the ends of the nipples to permitwithdrawal and insertion of the desired end of the blind or spectacle llange, or the disc, ring, or gasket to be retained between the abutting ends of the pipe nipples.

One simple way of accomplishing the desired relation between the nipples and the sleeve is to provide right and left hand threads on the nipples and sleeve so that rotation of the sleeve with regard to the nipples or pipe ends will draw them together or spread them apart depending upon the direction of relative rotation. These and other desirable features of the invention will be further apparent from the following description and are shown in the attached drawing, which forms a part of this specification and illustrates a preferred embodiment, in the form of anged nipples. x

spectacle flange in place to be clamped between the gasketed ends of the nipples.

Figure 2 isa transverse sectional view on line II-II of Figure 1 and illustrates a form of opening in the sleeve for the insertion and removal of the blind or spectacle flange.

Figure 3 is a transverse sectional View on line III-III of Figure 1 and illustrates a spanner which may be used to rotate the sleeve, together with a locking lug tosecure the sleeve in a desired position. l

Figure 4 is a detail View of one form of a spectacle flange particularly adapted'to be used with this invention. f

In the drawing, and particularly referringto Figure 1, reference numerals I0 and II designate two pipe nipples, which, in this `example are provided with conventional companion flanges I2, for connection into a piping system. The inner end of nipple IU is provided with right hand threads I3 and the inner end of nipple II is provided with left hand threads I4, which may be of any type, although the Acme form has been found desirable, particularly in the larger pipe sizes. Sleeve I4 is similarly vthreaded and serves to connect the two nipples I0 and II, as shown. A transverse slot I6 in sleeve I5 (Figure 2) permits the insertion or withdrawal of gaskets I1 and spectacle ange or blind I8 between the faced ends of the nipples when they are spread apart as in Figure 1. l

Blind I8 is illustrated in detail in Figure 4, and, in this example, generally comprises a blank disc portion I 9 of a size to correspond to the outer diameter of nipples I0 and II to prevent now therebetween, a ring portion 20 with an aperture 2| to permit free communication between nipples I 0 and 22, which lightens the weight and also cooperates with slot I 6 to permit relative motion between the sleeve I5 and blind I8, when the former is rotated to draw together or spread apart thesaid nipples. Obviously a separate blank disc and a ring could be used in place of the construction shown, it being generally considered more convenient to have them in one structure. Also, disc I9 could readily be provided with an accurately bored opening to serve as a restriction or oril'lce disc or plate for metering iluid flow in the system.

Any convenient means may be used to rotate sleeve I5 relatively to nipples I 0 and I I,'the lat- II, and a relatively narrow neck portion ter normally being substantially held from rotation by the piping system in which they are placed, but permitted a limited longitudinal motion of a small fraction of an inch by the inherent exibility of that system to permit insertion and removal of the blind and gaskets. In this example, a plurality of notches 23 are spaced about the periphery of sleeve I5 and are adapted to be engaged by a spanner 24, as shown in Figure 3. When the spanner is rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow, sleeve I5 will be eective to draw together nipples I0 and II to clamp blind I8 between gaskets I1 and thus make a uidtight joint. Rotation in the opposite direction obviously would spread apart the nipples to permit removal of blind I8. If disc I9 is placed between the nipples, fluid flow therethrough is positively prevented. If ring is inserted, as shown in Figure the nipples is maintained. The same latter result could also be obtained if blind I8 were entirely removed, in which case sleeve I5 would be rotated until the ends of the nipples seated on gaskets I'I.

If desired, a properly threaded lock nut may be placed at either or both ends of sleeve I5 to clamp the latter securely in pipe lines that may be subject to vibration. Spanner notches for rotating nuts 25 may be provided and, if desired, there may be provided means such as a radial lug 26, the latter to mate with a similar lug 21 on one end of sleeve I5, both lugs being drilled as at 28 to receive a padlock or other means to prevent tampering with the setting of the blind I8. If desired, drain opening 29 at the bottom of sleeve I5 will serve to release liquid which might otherwise flow upwardly out of slot I6 when the pressure is released. Provision of one or more openings to the atmosphere in sleeve I5, such as slot I6 and drain 29 gives a positive indication in case of iluid leakage past either gasket or the blind I8 and insures positively that there can be no fluid flow from one nipple to the other if such flow is not desired.

1, free communication between Although a specic example illustrating this invention has been shown and described, it is obvious that further modifications and changes could be made without departing therefrom, and all such that are included within the scope of the appended claim are embraced thereby.

I claim:

A flow control pipe tting comprising a sleeve having a right hand thread on its inner surface at one end thereof and a left hand thread on its inner surface at the opposite end thereof, said sleeve being provided with a transverse slot eX- tending through the wall thereof intermediate its ends, said slot having a length at least equal to the diameter of the sleeve bore, a pair of pipe sections one having a right hand threaded end and the other having a left hand threaded end, said pipe sections being supported in alignment in the correspondingly threaded end portions of said sleeve, the adjacent ends of said threaded pipe sections constituting clamping surfaces, said right and left hand threaded engagement of the pipe sections and the sleeve interconnecting said pipe sections and the end portions ofthe sleeve so that rotation of the sleeve will positively and independently advance the threaded end of each pipe section in a direction toward said transverse slot when the sleeve is rotated in one direction and in a direction away from said transverse slot when rotated in the opposite direction, and a flow controlling disc and a pair of complementary gaskets movable through said transverse slot in said sleeve into and out of assembled position between the ends of said threaded pipe sections which act to directly clamp said removable disc and gaskets in assembled position, said disc being so constructed as to engage the unslotted portion. of said sleeve to facilitate location of said disc and gaskets with respect to the threaded ends of said pipe sections.

BERNARD A. YOUNG. 

